Day One

Each morning we took about a 45 minute bus ride (double decker) to central London. 

Our first stop was Buckingham Palace, this is one of three gates near the Palace

The palace, there are a lot of people since the changing of the guard is happening. 

And we tried not to look like tourists...lol

For lunch we had tea at Harrods. 

This is one of the many rooms with food in it. There are 6 full floors of items. You can even buy a little dog outfit for $200...

Personally I can't figure this out... Who wants to wear hair like that!? With sticks in it too

Mom and Dad on the tour bus

Westminster looking up

House of Parliamant, this building is amazing

Carter resting beside Westminster

The front of Westminster

Big Ben

Charlotte and Dad in front of Big Ben

Getting there...

 The next stop on our trip was London. We arrived from Idaho Wednesday night (actually 3 am Thursday morning) and then left Thursday afternoon. And then once again when we tried to leave that night more bad weather prevented us from leaving. Consequently, once we reached Atlanta, we had missed our flight to London. So we slept in the Atlanta airport for the night. Not too fun! By the way we decided that terminal E is the best to sleep in. :) But we weren't alone, many other people's flights got canceled. The next morning we were rerouted to La Guardia airport in NYC. From there we had to get a bus to JFK airport. Thankfully to make up for the delays we had first class seats from Atlanta to LaGuardia, we were so excited and first class is amazing, especially when you spent the night in an airport! As it happened we arrived at LaGuardia the morning there was a bomb threat, thankfully it had cleared up by the time we got there. Once we reached JFK we tried to kill 8 hours in the food court. We also got some sleep. Never knew you could sleep in a food court before! Thankfully we made our flight to London and arrived at 7am Sunday morning. 

Sleeping in Atlanta

Delays and lines seemed to be our life 

JFK art

The is the 'hotel' we stayed in during our time in London known as the Highbury Centre. It is over a hundred years old and has served as a guest house for missionaries (formerly known as the Foreign Missions Club). It was a 45 minute bus ride to central London but we enjoyed our stay there. 

Idaho Family Reunion

The first part of our long summer travels and adventures started in Idaho. My Dad has three brothers and every two years we meet for a family reunion with all of them along with my grandparents. This year we met in Idaho where one of my uncles lives with his family. We spent the first two days in Boise at their house (and a hotel because we couldn't fit) and then headed 3 hours northward to my aunt's parent's cabin on Lake Cascade. We had 26 people (16 of them children under age 18) in the same cabin. It was loud but tons of fun.  

The first night there my uncle had a work picnic and we joined in. We had an incredible free meal! Plus blow up "things" for the kids. 

This is what you get for dessert in Idaho:  "potatoes"! But... it's made out of ice cream covered with cocoa, whipped cream for sour cream and chocolate for butter. Man was it good!

The next morning my two youngest cousins, Matthew and Luke, were baptized by my grandfather in their backyard.

Because I do not have a water proof camera I could not document our white water rafting trip. It was on the Payette River, class III & IV rapids. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was an absolute blast. 

That evening we arrived at the cabin and some people couldn't wait to get in. 

Dad and Emily

These two boys, Carter and Graham, are the only boys in their respective families, hence they had to get as much "guy time" as they could. 

Carter and Emily on the skidoo.

Mom and Dad sailing.

One of my favorite parts of these reunions is when each of the brothers recites a Banjo Patterson poem (Australia's favorite folklore poet); he is a relative of ours. The coat my uncle is wearing is called a drys-a-bone and the hat is an australian ecubra hat. 

Dad needs the words :) unlike his brothers who have memorized some of the poems.

My cousin Graham demonstrating how Australians dress and how the my Dad and 3 brothers grew up. It was hysterical.

One morning some of the girls went horseback riding for the morning, they loved it. 

Evenings were passed by playing games like Mafia (pictured), cards, Settlers of Catan, and Scum. These families are big game players. 

Since my brother and Dad are training for a triathalon they continued training in Idaho by swimming across the lake and back. 

Sunset art

And again

S'mores

One afternoon the older girls went into the nearby town to get ice cream and window shop. 

On our way home we stopped by to see my aunt's horses 

The photographer, me :)

The farm where the horses were had the most adorable and sweet kittens!!

Blossom

The parting sunset

More Tours on Friday

Friday was our first full day with my Dad and Carter (who flew up Thursday night to join us). It seems they brought the sun because Tuesday-Thursday had been in the low 6o's, raining, and foggy. But Friday was sunny and in the 70's. We took the "T" to the Paul Revere Statue where our tour began. We then walked to Copp's Hill Burial Ground and Old North Church. 

Graves

Our wonderful tour guide in front of Cotton Mather's tomb. 

Old North Church

Mom, Emily, and Charlotte posing nearby Revere on horseback in the background. 

This is the beautiful organ in Old North Church. 

Walking from Fanuel Hall where we had lunch. 

Another view

After lunch we walked to the Massachusetts State House for our final Boston tour led by Paul Jehle--another wonderful, knowledgeable speaker. 

This is Paul Jehle in front of a plaque dedicated to the Pilgrims.